Society is always telling girls exactly who they need to be: skinny, perfect skin, big butts, slim waistlines, perfect hair, and so on. Honestly, I can’t think of one girl who meets the criteria of what society wants her to be. Growing up in the millennial generation, I have felt the pressures of society to be someone that I’m not. I remember getting up for school in the mornings and trying to get that “perfect look” before I left my house. Girls have been specifically targeted to fit into a certain stereotype that society wants them to fit into.
Adolescent girls are the easiest to make an impression on; you can tell them a million times that they are beautiful, but all it takes is hearing they are ugly one time for them to want to change themselves. At such a young age, it is easy to care about what other people think of you, and to try to be someone that you’re not. I am beginning to see girls young enough to be in elementary school changing the color of their hair and wear heavy amounts of eyeliner. I didn’t even know what eyeliner was until about eighth grade; it breaks my heart to see girls so easily molded by society telling them who they should be. This isn’t just about makeup or hairstyles; young girls have been specifically targeted to remain a certain body type regardless of their physical differences.
Magazines and TV shows bombard young girls with the idea that they should have large chests, skinny waists, and large backsides. Clearly not everyone is built this way, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t perfect in their own ways. Girls shouldn’t feel ugly if they weigh more than 110 pounds or if they have thick thighs. It is the differences about us that make us all beautiful in our own ways, and for society to shame any physical staturedifferent from a Victoria's Secret model is wrong. It's OK to have rolls on your stomach. It's OK to wear a size 10 shoe. It's OK to have acne. None of these things determine a girl’s beauty; she should feel beautiful no matter what distorted images she is influenced by. The girls on billboards and magazine covers aren’t entirely perfect either; they are airbrushed into girls that society wants them to be. Those girls aren’t even real! For adolescent females to strive to be the type of girl that they see on magazine covers is wrong; society is putting standards that cannot be acheived into their minds.
No matter if you wear a size 0 or a size 20, you should be comfortable in your own skin. I would like to think I outgrew the phase of caring about what other people think at an early age; however, I don’t know a single girl who went untouched from society’s desires. However, the day I realized that being truly perfect was unreachable, I found a new happiness within myself. You don’t need perfectly straight hair or clear skin to be beautiful; everyone is beautiful in their own ways. Young girls should strive to be who they are, instead of what society wants them to be. Body image is such a delicate subject especially when young girls are poisoned with the idea that they aren’t good enough. Be happy with what God gave you, because there is only one of you!
